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IMMIGRATION OVERLOAD
FOSTER CARE
Asking for help
Stories horrify listeners
Obama: US, region share responsibility for refugees By JOSH LEDERMAN ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama is telling Central American presidents that the United States and the wider region share responsibility to address an influx of mi-
nors and families who are crossing the southwest border of the U.S. He says they all have to deter the flow of children across the border because the situation is putting the children and their families at risk. Obama and Vice President
Joe Biden met at the White House with the presidents of Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador. Obama said children without a proper claim to stay will be returned to their countries. He said the U.S. will turn back border crossers not be-
cause of a lack of compassion but because the U.S. is a nation of laws. Meanwhile, House Republicans tried to agree on their own proposed solution to the crisis at the Mexican border.
See IMMIGRATION
PAGE 10A
BORDER SAFETY
DANGEROUS RIVER JOB Deterrence is a goal, challenge By CHRISTOPHER SHERMAN ASSOCIATED PRESS
MISSION — Three heavily armed Texas patrol boats rounded a bend in the Rio Grande on a recent afternoon and came upon two young men paddling an inflatable raft fullspeed ahead toward the Mexican shore. The state troopers and game wardens bobbed helplessly in their boats as the men passed their raft and paddles up the bank to others, and a crew of troopers peeked through the tall reeds on the U.S. side for whatever load had just been deposited. It was illustrated the limitations U.S. agencies face in deterring smugglers at the Texas border in the face of Gov. Rick Perry’s recent announcement to send as many as 1,000 National Guard troops down. Combined, the two gunboats from the state’s Department of Public Safety and one from the Parks and Wildlife Department
Photos by Eric Gay/pool | AP
Texas Department of Safety Troopers patrol on the Rio Grande along the U.S.-Mexico border on Thursday, in Mission. Texas is spending $1.3 million a week for a bigger DPS presence along the border. carried 2,400 horsepower and 15 .30-caliber machine guns — indisputably the most advanced craft on the Rio Grande. But they were foiled Thursday by an 8-foot raft and smugglers’ scouts who track their movements from the moment the patrols hit water. A short time earlier when the patrol boats passed in the opposite direction, two men — likely scouts — had stood in the same
See RIVER
ASSOCIATED PRESS
AUSTIN — Young adults who grew up in Texas’ foster care system recounted harrowing stories of abuse and emotional trauma Thursday for members of a legislative committee looking for ways to better protect such children. Some choked back tears during a hearing of the Texas House Select Committee on Child Protection, and chairwoman Dawnna Dukes said what she heard made foster care sometimes sound “like prison.” The state’s 17,000-child foster system has been under intense scrutiny since seven children died of abuse or neglect in fiscal year 2013. Another three died “in kinship care,” after being assigned to live with relatives. This year, one foster child has died, but officials are still investigating two siblings in foster care, ages 4 and 6, who drowned July 6 in Lake Georgetown, near Austin. An outside review found child protective caseworkers only spend 26 percent of their job meeting with youngsters and families. Lena Francis, now 20, testified that she was in foster care in Houston from birth until age 7 — then adopted. She said she was often locked in a dark room for hours and prohibited from eating or drinking. “These agencies, they don’t know what happens. And how can you report that because, at the end of the day, you’ve still got to go home with that person?” Francis said, her voice cracking. Francis said Texas should mandate drug testing for potential foster and adoptive parents, as well as institute random visits to homes where children are placed. “For the most part, we’re being abused,” Francis said. “I want people to be held accountable.” Roshaude Williams, 23, said he was in foster care until age 19 and lived in twodozen homes around Texas. He said foster parents put him on medications he didn’t need because state funding increased for youngsters with medical problems — and that he eventually attempted suicide by walking into traffic. “I guess it’s all right now, but I’ve had 20-something jobs,” Williams said. “I can’t hold one down.” John Specia, commissioner of the De-
See FOSTER CARE PAGE 9A
PAGE 10A
MIGRANT CHILDREN
Turning point for Central Am. minors was ’12 Editor’s note: This is part two of a three-part series on warnings of an influx of immigrant children into the United States.
By DAVID NAKAMURA, JERRY MARKON AND MANUEL ROIG-FRANZIA THE WASHINGTON POST
Federal officials by 2012 found the number of adults and famlies illegally entering the United States from El Salvador, Guatema-
la and Honduras began to grow rapidly. The number of Central American minors making the trip without their parents — who are afforded greater protections under a 2008 U.S. anti-trafficking law — was a subset of the larger phenomenon, officials said. “It was more than it had been, but it wasn’t something that would cause you to sort of drop everything and say we’re in a cri-
sis,” said a person familiar with internal deliberations. In Texas and in Central America, officials viewed the situation with greater alarm. In April 2012, the first ladies of Mexico, Honduras and Guatemala voiced their concerns at a conference in Washington on unaccompanied minors. “The statistics are worrisome,” said Guatemala’s Rosa Maria Leal de Perez. A week later, Texas Gov. Rick
Perry, a Republican, wrote a blistering letter to Obama, citing a 90 percent increase over the previous year in the number unaccompanied minors arriving from Central America. If the president failed “to take immediate action to return these minors to their countries of origin and prevent and discourage others from coming here, the federal government is perpetuating the problem,” Perry wrote. “Every day of delay risks more
lives. Every child allowed to remain encourages hundreds more to attempt the journey.” Inside the Obama administration, officials at the Department of Homeland Security were focusing most of their efforts on adults. Janet Napolitano, then secretary of homeland security, implored her counterparts in Mexico to increase border security to reduce
See CHILDREN PAGE 9A
PAGE 2A
Zin brief CALENDAR
SATURDAY, JULY 26, 2014
AROUND TEXAS
TODAY IN HISTORY
Saturday, July 26
ASSOCIATED PRESS
St. John Neumann’s Ladies Altar Society Rummage Sale. 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. 102 W. Hillside. Clothes, kitchen wares, toys, books, linens, furniture and much more available. Contact Lily Castillo at autumnleaves22@gmail.com. Auditions for tuition-free dance training program for boys. Noon to 2 p.m. Laredo School Contemporary Dance, 5901 McPherson Road. Boys ages 8-17 with some or no previous training and a strong desire to dance. For audition details and to confirm attendance, contact Jessica Zamarripa at laredoscd.gmail.com. 5th Annual Cat Appreciation Day — Cat Contest. 3:30 p.m. to 6 pm. North PETCO. Cat Appreciation Day proclamation at 3:30 p.m. Registration for Live categories and for unframed photo categories from 3:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. Judging and awards for registered live cats from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. Judging and awards for registered unframed cat photos from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. $10 donation for each participating category. Contact Birdie at 286-7866. Cigarroa High School Class of ’94 20th year reunion. Contact Veronica Sanchez at verosanchez1976@gmail.com.
Today is Saturday, July 26, the 207th day of 2014. There are 158 days left in the year. Today’s Highlight in History: On July 26, 1775, Benjamin Franklin became America’s first Postmaster-General. On this date: In 1788, New York became the 11th state to ratify the U.S. Constitution. In 1882, the Richard Wagner opera “Parsifal” premiered in Bayreuth, Germany. In 1908, U.S. Attorney General Charles J. Bonaparte ordered creation of a force of special agents that was a forerunner of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. In 1912, the Edison Studios production “What Happened to Mary,” one of the first, if not very first, movie serials, was released with Mary Fuller in the title role. In 1947, President Harry S. Truman signed the National Security Act, which established the National Military Establishment (later renamed the Department of Defense). In 1953, Fidel Castro began his revolt against Fulgencio Batista (fool-HEN’-see-oh bahTEES’-tah) with an unsuccessful attack on an army barracks in eastern Cuba. (Castro ousted Batista in 1959.) In 1956, the Italian liner Andrea Doria sank off New England, some 11 hours after colliding with the Swedish liner Stockholm; at least 51 people died. In 1971, Apollo 15 was launched from Cape Kennedy on America’s fourth manned mission to the moon. In 1989, Mark Wellman, a 29-year-old paraplegic, reached the summit of El Capitan in Yosemite (yoh-SEHM’-uh-tee) National Park after hauling himself up the granite cliff six inches at a time over nine days. In 1990, President George H.W. Bush signed the Americans with Disabilities Act. Ten years ago: The Democratic Party’s 44th national convention opened in Boston under extraordinarily tight security; a parade of speakers that included former President Bill Clinton castigated George W. Bush as a president who had mishandled the economy and bungled the war on terror. Five years ago: Choreographer and dancer Merce Cunningham died in New York at age 90. One year ago: Ariel Castro, the man who’d imprisoned three women in his Cleveland home, subjecting them to a decade of rapes and beatings, pleaded guilty to 937 counts in a deal to avoid the death penalty. (Castro later committed suicide in prison.) Today’s Birthdays: Actress Marjorie Lord is 96. Actor James Best is 88. Actresssinger Darlene Love is 73. Singer Brenton Wood is 73. Rock star Mick Jagger is 71. Movie director Peter Hyams is 71. Actress Helen Mirren is 69. Rock musician Roger Taylor (Queen) is 65. Actress Susan George is 64. Olympic gold medal figure skater Dorothy Hamill is 58. Actor Kevin Spacey is 55. Rock singer Gary Cherone (sher-OWN’) is 53. Actress Sandra Bullock is 50. Rock singer Jim Lindberg (Pennywise) is 49. Thought for Today: “A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing.” — George Bernard Shaw (born this date in 1856, died 1950).
Monday, July 28
Photo by Associated Press
Emmett Ezell, second from right, is kissed by his father, Dave, as his brother, Owen, is held by his mother, Jenni, as they prepare for a group photo with caregivers at Medical City Children’s Hospital in Dallas on Thursday. The formerly conjoined twin boys returned to the hospital where they were surgically separated to celebrate their first birthday.
Twins celebrate birthday ASSOCIATED PRESS
Commissioners Court meeting. 9 a.m. to noon. Zapata County Courthouse. Contact Roxy Elizondo at 7659920. Monthly meeting of Laredo Parkinson’s Disease Support Group. 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Laredo Medical Center, Tower B, First Floor Community Center. Patients, caregivers and family members invited. Free info pamphlets available in Spanish and English. Call Richard Renner (English) at 645-8649 or Juan Gonzalez (Spanish) at 2370666.
Thursday, July 31 Grief support group. Noon to 1:30 p.m. First United Methodist Church, 1220 McClelland Ave. Free and open to public. Contact Patricia Cisneros at 722-1674 or pcisneros@mhm.org. Los Amigos Duplicate Bridge Club. 1:15 p.m. to 5 p.m. Laredo Country Club. Contact Beverly Cantu at 7270589 for more information. Spanish Book Club. 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Laredo Public Library – Calton. Contact Sylvia Reash 763-1810. “The Calling” series of Bible talks. 6:30 p.m. to 7:45 p.m. Laredo Church of Christ Chapel, 1505 Calle del Norte, Suite 340. Contact Miguel Zuñiga at 286-9631 or mglzuñiga@yahoo.com. Laredo A&M Mother’s Club’s annual membership drive and get-acquainted party. 6 p.m. Commerce Bank, 5800 San Dario Ave. Club’s sole goal is to provide support for current and future students attending Texas A&M University in College Station, as well as to parents. Contact Diana T.E. Lopez at 236-9549, Veronica Villarreal at 744-6691 or any club member. Laredo Crime Stoppers Bowling Tournament, in memory of Ramiro Barrera Jr. 5:30 p.m. Jett Bowl North. Five person team $125. Free memorial towel. Contact 724-1876, email crimestoppers@att.net or visit laredocrimestoppers.org.
Saturday, Aug. 2 Used book sale, hosted by First United Methodist Church. 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. 1220 McClelland Ave. Hardback books are $1, paperback books 50 cents, and magazines and children’s books 25 cents.
Tuesday, Aug. 5 The Alzheimer’s support group will meet Tuesday August 5th at 7pm in meeting room 2, building B of the Laredo Medical Center. The support group is for family members and caregivers taking care of someone who has Alzheimer’s.
Monday, Aug. 11 Commissioners Court meeting. 9 a.m. to noon. Zapata County Courthouse. Contact Roxy Elizondo at 7659920.
Saturday, Aug. 23 Annual Back to School Kid’s Fishing Tournament. 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Bravo Park Pond. Contact cbalderas@zapatachamber.com.
Monday, Aug. 25 Commissioners Court meeting. 9 a.m. to noon. Zapata County Courthouse. Contact Roxy Elizondo at 7659920.
DALLAS — Formerly conjoined twin boys celebrated their first birthday Thursday with those who helped care for them at the Dallas hospital where they were separated. Emmett and Owen Ezell, who turned 1 last week, returned to Medical City Children’s Hospital where they were separated last August. The twins, who shared a liver and intestines when born, left the hospital for inpatient rehabilitation in April and finally were able to go home in June. “We dreamed of this day and this moment and them reaching this milestone but it wasn’t a reality,” said their mother, Jenni Ezell. “And we’ve made it through and we’re looking forward to many, many more birthdays.” The boys breathe on their own but still re-
ly on feeding tubes. Their mother says they both were sitting up even before they left the hospital. “Owen is about to start crawling, he’s so, so close. And I figure once he starts going, that one is going to be really close behind him,” she said, pointing at Emmett. “They’re doing really well. They’re hitting the milestones that they need to be and we’re looking forward to the ones that are coming up.” The boys, who weighed a combined 11 pounds, 15 ounces at birth, now each weigh about 20 pounds. Their father, Dave Ezell, said they are grateful to those who cared for their sons at the hospital. “Every one of these people have gone out of their way to take care of these little boys. There aren’t words to express the gratitude that we feel for these people,” he said.
2 men charged with leaving children in car
About 200 dogs, cats seized from shelter
State needs extra year for new teacher evaluations
HITCHCOCK — Two men have been arrested after police say they left two children inside a locked car for about 30 minutes outside a Texas gas station. Police removed the two children from the car. Police chief Clay Kennelly says the children were unharmed but taken to a hospital as a precaution.
WOLFE CITY — About 200 dogs and cats have been seized from a North Texas animal shelter amid allegations of neglect. Officials with the Texas SPCA and Hunt County on Wednesday removed the animals from the no-kill Frank Barchard (BAR’churd) Memorial Shelter, in Wolfe City.
AAA: State retail gasoline prices slip 4 cents
2 sisters found dead in apartment
AUSTIN — Texas will need an extra year to unveil a new teacher evaluation system that’s required as the state seeks relief from some curriculum standards mandated by No Child Left Behind. State Education Commissioner Michael Williams wrote the U.S. Education Department on Wednesday saying a pilot evaluation program would be delayed 12 months.
IRVING — Texas and nationwide retail gasoline prices have slipped 4 cents this week amid lower crude oil costs. AAA Texas on Thursday reported the average price at the pump statewide settled at $3.41 per gallon. Motorists across the U.S. are paying an average $3.55 per gallon. The survey found Amarillo has the cheapest gasoline in Texas this week at $3.32 per gallon.
QUITMAN — Two young sisters have been found dead in their East Texas apartment and an evidence tampering charge was filed against a man who allegedly was at the home. Witnesses told police they saw a man running from the apartment and throwing items into a trash bin. Police arrested Thomas Wayne Liles of Quitman on a charge of tampering with or fabricating physical evidence.
Military museum gets part of old nuke bomb PAMPA — A military museum in the Texas Panhandle has acquired part of an inactive nuclear bomb on hand during the Cold War. Pantex Plant crews on Wednesday helped unload an empty B53 nuclear weapons case at the Freedom Museum USA in Pampa. — Compiled from AP reports
AROUND THE NATION Toddler crashes car, runs home to watch cartoons MYRTLE CREEK, Ore. — Police say a toddler crashed a Jeep into an Oregon home, then ran back to his home to watch cartoons. Authorities say the 3-year-old boy who was wearing only a diaper climbed into the Jeep Tuesday evening and knocked it out of gear. Witnesses say it rolled down the street, through an intersection and into the house, causing minor damage. KPTV reports an officer found the boy on a couch watching TV as if nothing had happened. He said his parents weren’t home and another relative was sleeping. Police cited 22-year-old Brennan Pennington for failing to supervise a child.
7th Circuit sets hearing on gay marriage ban INDIANAPOLIS — Lawyers
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A woman dressed as the character Katniss Everdeen from the movie, "The Hunger Games: Catching Fire," poses in front of Comic-Con Thursday in San Diego. Fans with passes to the pop-culture spectacular flocked to the event Thursday. will argue the constitutionality of gay marriage bans in Indiana and Wisconsin in about a month. The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals announced Friday that it has rescheduled arguments for both states’ appeals of federal court decisions for Aug. 26.
Federal judges in Indiana and Wisconsin overturned each state’s gay marriage ban in separate rulings. When both states appealed, the 7th Circuit Court combined the cases and set aside the previous hearing date. — Compiled from AP reports
SUBSCRIPTIONS/DELIVERY (956) 728-2555 The Zapata Times is distributed on Saturdays to 4,000 households in Zapata County. For subscribers of the Laredo Morning Times and for those who buy the Laredo Morning Times at newsstands, the Zapata Times is inserted. The Zapata Times is free. The Zapata Times is published by the Laredo Morning Times, a division of The Hearst Corporation, P.O. Box 2129, Laredo, Texas 78044. Phone (956) 728-2500. The Zapata office is at 1309 N. U.S. Hwy. 83 at 14th Avenue, Suite 2, Zapata, TX 78076. Call (956) 765-5113 or e-mail thezapatatimes.net
State
SATURDAY, JULY 26, 2014
THE ZAPATA TIMES 3A
Nonprofit serves churches serving migrants By RONALD W. ERDRICH ABILENE REPORTER-NEWS
MCALLEN — When the truck lurched, Danny Sims knew it wasn’t good. In the rearview mirror he could see pieces from one his trailer’s tires flying into the air. The car behind him swerved to avoid the trailer’s fender, taken out by the blown tire. The spiraling piece of tin mashed itself against an eighteen-wheeler’s grill farther back. It was the first of two tires he would lose that night. Sims pulled over. The trailer’s side, painted with the Global Samaritan Resources logo, was now also marked with black streaks. Sims is the executive director for Global Samaritan Resources. The trailer he was towing carried a full load of cots, used clothing and baby supplies, all of it bound for the Harvey Drive Church of Christ in McAllen. Their final use would be determined by faith-based groups responding to the recent surge of Central Americans crossing the U.S.-Mexican border illegally. Despite the delay, there were still people at Harvey Drive waiting to greet Sims’ group hours later. More than 20 people began stacking the cargo inside a backroom of the church’s activity center. Later, Sims’ group set up cots in another room, reserved for a Boy Scout troop, and bedded down for the night. Over breakfast the next morning, Abel Alvarez, the church’s minister, described the effect of the increase of immigrants crossing the border. “I think three years ago, the (annual) numbers were 17,000 to 20,000,” he told the Abilene Reporter-News. “Right now they’ve processed over 50,000, and we’re expecting maybe another 90,000 by the end of the year.” All that just since Oct. 1, 2013. “It’s mind-boggling,” Alvarez said. Most are women traveling with their children, but other children of varying ages are traveling solo. All of them come from the Northern Triangle of Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador. “It’s mostly Honduras. We haven’t had anybody from Mexi-
Photo by Ronald W. Erdrich/The Abilene Reporter-News | AP
An illegal immigrant family is processed while behind them tables of clothing for children and adults are set out for their use at Sacred Heart Catholic Church, in McAllen. co,” said Leticia Benavides, who oversees the project operations for Sacred Heart Catholic Church’s immigration assistance center. She said the church became involved in early June. “We estimated about 200 people every day for that first week,” said Benavides. Twice-daily buses filled with families released by the U.S. Border Patrol are dropped off at the church. But where the unaccompanied immigrant children are taken, no one seemed to know. Alvarez said not having access to those children is becoming an issue with the faith community. “They need pastoral care and we’re asking to be let in,” he said, adding they’ve so far had no luck. At Sacred Heart, workers gather immigrants’ information in case family members call looking for them. Then, the workers see to the immigrants’ needs. “They’re fed, we provide them clean clothes, offer them a shower and have volunteer doctors who see them for minor things,” said Benavides. The church is two blocks from the bus station. Immigrants used to collect there, their tickets paid
by family members, until overcrowding forced them out. That’s when volunteers started taking them into their homes, and then Sacred Heart. “We had a lady here from the center, we called her El Angel, because at one time she had nine families at her house,” said Benavides. Immigrants may only stay a few hours until they catch a bus to wherever they planned to travel. Those arriving later in the day spend the night, sleeping on cots in air-conditioned tents behind the church. While Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley is running the operation, all faiths are welcome to work in it. Alvarez has someone from his church there and several others are being trained. “It’s amazing, one of the highlights of this whole operation is the way we collaborate,” Benavides said. To pay for passage to the U.S., families raise money any way they can, including borrowing money from relatives or going into debt by payment plans with guides who take immigrants part of the way to the border. Climbing atop the infamous
freight train known as La Bestia — The Beast — has been the most notorious way for immigrants crossing Mexico to the American border. It’s also known as The Death Train because so many have been maimed or killed boarding it. The train normally doesn’t stop for the immigrants; those people must jump on a moving train. On July 10, La Bestia derailed in the state of Oaxaca, stranding 1,300 immigrants. Rain and overloading was blamed; it was the third immigrant train derailment in southern Mexico in a month. Mexican authorities a few days later ruled, in the interest of safety, they were going to prohibit people from riding the trains. It may explain the lower immigrant numbers last week, Benavides said. Immigration is a sore subject in America. Some label immigrants entering the country without documents as criminals, while others point to Emily Lazarus’ 1883 poem inscribed under the Statue of Liberty welcoming “the homeless, tempest-tost (sic).” But like any political problem, this one has many layers. The most visible, people crossing the
border, is only the most obvious. “The drug cartels have been able to collapse any kind of rule of law,” Alvarez said. He pointed to the valley’s bordering state of Tamaulipas and the Mexican government’s ineffectiveness there. “They don’t run that state, the cartel does,” he said. “So how can I fault some little country in Central America, who doesn’t have 10 cents to rub together?” Earlier this month, the commander for U.S. Southern Command, Marine Corps Gen. John Kelly, wrote in a column for Military Times that Northern Triangle drug cartels “have left nearbroken societies in their wake.” Money fueling the violence, he says, comes directly from the U.S. illicit drug trade. Kelly cited U.N. statistics labeling Honduras as the world’s most violent nation, with a rate of 90 murders for every 100,000 people. By contrast, recognized war zones, such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 2012, rated 28 murders per 100,000. “I know that the stories that we hear over and over again is, ‘We’re fleeing the violence,”’ Benavides said. “We hear, ‘Our neighbor’s child was kidnapped, he was just 7 and was killed.”’ Alvarez echoed the stories. “Families are saying, ‘Let’s send whoever we can and get out of here,”’ he said. He called it a humanitarian crisis with parents wanting their children to have a better life. “Not a better life,” he amended. “Just life.” But calling them refugees has not been welcomed. Alvarez has heard it from all quarters. “Hey, we have laws for a reason, these people ought to go back,” goes the argument. “That resonates with me,” he said. “But if I lived in a situation where I thought my kids were going to get murdered on the street, I’d do whatever I could to get them out of there.” He cited Leviticus in the Bible as a guiding light. “The last section is about being a good neighbor to the people around you,” he said. Sims said his primary reason for coming to McAllen was to assess the situation and see where GSR could help.
PAGE 4A
Zopinion
SATURDAY, JULY 26, 2014
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR SEND YOUR SIGNED LETTER TO EDITORIAL@LMTONLINE.COM
COLUMN
OTHER VIEWS
No easy answer for reason why By JOEL CHASNOFF SPECIAL TO THE WASHINGTON POST
NEW YORK — This week, two Americans serving in the Israel Defense Forces were killed in Gaza. Max Steinberg, from Los Angeles, was 24. Sean Carmeli, 22, came from Texas. Both were Lone Soldiers — Israel’s term for troops with no immediate family living in Israel. I used to be one of them. In July 1997, when I was 23, I moved to Israel from Chicago and joined the 188th Armored Brigade. I was one of two Lone Soldiers in the platoon. Six months later I deployed to Lebanon for operations against Hezbollah. For me, serving in the IDF was the culmination of an upbringing that included Jewish day school, summers at Camp Ramah, an Israel teen-tour, and countless Israeli exchange students who slept in our basement. After all those years learning about Hitler and Haman, concentration camps and pogroms, I was enthralled by the idea of the Hero Jew who fought back. I decided it was unfair to call Israel my homeland unless I, too, helped defend it. But everyone has their own reasons for volunteering as a Lone Soldier. In Carmeli’s case, his parents are Israeli. Steinberg, on the other hand, had never even been to Israel until he was 22. His 10-day Birthright trip sparked a sense of belonging that compelled him to serve. Tim Bailey was the other Lone Soldier in my unit. He was raised Baptist, but on his 18th birthday his mother told him she’d been Jewish when he was born, which made Tim a Jew in the eyes of Jewish law. Joining the army was part of Tim’s search for his own identity. Whatever motivates us, the one thing Lone Soldiers have in common, is that we’re motivated. Lone Soldiers request combat units in greater proportion than native Israelis, according Garin Tzabar, an organization that helps American Lone Soldiers acclimate to the IDF. (Why emigrate to be a paper-pusher?) Often, we choose the most elite (read: dangerous) units, like Golani — an infantry brigade that was home to Sean and Max. Army life is tough for anyone, but the Lone Soldier faces extra challenges. There are international phone bills to pay. Laundry to wash during a Sabbath furlough. The lack of family is especially difficult on weekends, when most soldiers go home to doting mothers who spoil them with home-cooked meals. The Lone Soldier, on the other hand, returns to an empty apartment or a rented room on kibbutz. Hardest of all, at least for me, is the cultural difference. As any Lone Soldier quickly learns, Israelis aren’t just Jews who happen to live in a different country. Israelis have a no-nonsense, in-your-face character that would make even the most brazen New Yorker shudder. Israelis shout, argue and speak their minds — good qualities when you live in a pressure-cooker country like Israel, but shocking to a polite Midwesterner like me. Nor do Israelis apologize. Ever. Because to apologize is to admit you’re vulnerable — and no one wants to be vulnerable in the Middle East. On my first visit to the Induction Center, I received my dog tags and noticed that my last name, instead of “Chasnoff,” had been engraved “Shitznitz”. “You misspelled my name!” I cried out to the soldier making the dog tags. “So don’t die,” he said. Welcome to the Israeli Army. These days, Israelis appreciate the sacrifices Lone Soldiers make. But it took the death of one of our own for that to happen. His name was Michael Levin. Michael was raised in Philadelphia and went to Camp Ramah, like me. After high school he studied in Israel and decided to join the army for reasons similar to mine. When Michael, all of 125 pounds, showed up at the Induction Center, the army told him to go home. So in a display of true Israeliness, Michael scaled a fence, snuck into the Induction Center and earned himself a spot in the paratroopers. Two years later, he was killed in a firefight during the summer of 2006 war with Hezbollah. Today, the Michael Levin Lone Soldier Center in Jerusalem is a dormitory, hangout and all-around resource center for Lone Soldiers, and a reminder to Israelis that some of its best soldiers come from afar. People ask me if I’d do it all over again. I had a rough go in the army, particularly in Lebanon, when Hezbollah attacked us from farms and schools, knowing we’d hesitate to fire back. Those moments, I questioned my decision to join. In basic training, when I nearly died in a training accident, my faith in the IDF was shaken. But to be blunt — that is, to be Israeli — my answer is, yes. I’d do it again. The camaraderie was incredible, and I feel connected to Israel in a way that can only happen when you serve. I bet that if you could ask them, Max and Sean would do it all over again, too. Chasnoff is a comedian and author of “The 188th Crybaby Brigade,” a memoir about his tour-of-duty as a tank gunner in the Israeli Army.
COLUMN
Armchair terrorists bringing us remote control terrorism By LLEWELLYN KING HEARST NEWSPAPERS
Terrorism isn’t what it used to be. Disruptive technology is at work, and terrorism is much more threatening than it was. The long-running, terrorist wars of the last century — like those of the Palestinians, the Basques in Spain, or the Kurds in Turkey — were relatively contained, both in the fields of operation and the political motivations. The new face of terrorism is more awful, more random, and has little of the political purpose of terrorism of the past, however terrible its consequences were. A new generation of robots is coming, which will make remotely controlled terrorism a real threat throughout the world. Add to that threat the profound difference in terrorist motivation. Yesterday’s terrorism, though heinous, could claim high purpose: It was wholesale terrorism with political goals to be attained by murder and destruction of civilian targets. Today’s terrorism, by contrast, is increasingly retail, motivated by hatred and revenge. Often, the motivation is more religious than nationalistic. The 9/11 attacks were the harbinger of this new terrorism. Now take blind, irrational hatred, as in the Middle East, mix it with killer-robots tech-
The new face of terrorism is more awful, more random, and has little of the political purpose of terrorism of the past, however terrible its consequences were. nology, and you have a huge global threat. In May, the United Nations Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons convened a first-ever meeting of experts in Geneva to discuss Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems, which could be the start of a wave of anonymous killing across continents and oceans. These new robotic weapons can do everything that a human with a bomb or improvised explosive can do. The old brake on terrorism — that the terrorist would be caught or, more likely, be killed in the attack — could be over. The age of the armchair terrorist is at hand. We have all seen the carnage from a simple bomb made from fuel oil and fertilizer. Now add to that the possibility that bombs and other weapons could be made and stored for future detonation using mobile phone technology; or that remotely operated vehicles could drive down a street with machine guns blazing. Then there are drones. The United States has pioneered the highly sophisticated Predator — remotely piloted vehi-
cles that can destroy a target across continents and oceans with precision. But non-lethal drones are doing all sorts of work, from examining pipelines to determining the views from potential skyscrapers in New York. Not only will tomorrow’s terrorists have farther reach, but they will also have the Internet to create chaos. Imagine a Web whisper about a drone armed with biological or chemical agents flying over a big city, its effects magnified by public panic. Likewise, a drone armed with a dirty nuclear weapon its impact is likely to be quite limited, but the public panic over radiation could cause severe incident. Israel may have been more panicked over the appearance of a drone from Gaza than the rockets that the Iron Dome missile system took out. A slow-moving drone at rooftop level might one day be a greater threat than a fusillade of high-flying rockets. The late James Schlesinger, a former Defense secretary and CIA director, liked to discuss the British Empire and how it had held together with me. Because I had
grown up in a British colony, he thought I could tell him. The answer is a combination of economics, psychology and formation before the worldwide proliferation of small arms and explosives. It was fundamental after the Indian Mutiny of 1857-58 that weapons be kept strictly in the hands of the British. African regiments and police, for example, were seldom armed, and then only for special purposes. Schlesinger emphasized that all arms developments demanded further developments, because your enemy would soon catch up with you. This has happened throughout history: The British invented the tank in World War I, the Germans perfected it in World War II and overran Europe with its Panzer divisions. Those who hate the West may use its own technologies to attack it at random with remote-controlled weapons, mobile phones, Google maps, and vehicles invented in America. Disruptive technologies are coming to terrorism — and that’s a horror. Llewellyn King’s e-mail is lking@kingpublishing.com
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Nation
SATURDAY, JULY 26, 2014
Authorities target victim, 80 Homicide considered after burglar killed ASSOCIATED PRESS
LONG BEACH, Calif. — Prosecutors deciding whether to charge a California man who says he fatally shot a violent burglar in the back in an alley as she fled his home face a difficult decision because the case falls in a gray area involving selfdefense, a legal expert said Friday. Long Beach homeowner Tom Greer, 80, told a TV station he began firing after his collarbone was broken during an assault by the woman and a man that Greer discovered in his home. Long Beach police Chief Jim McDonnell says the homeowner shot at 28year-old Andrea Miller in an alley. Greer said he fired at the burglars inside and outside his home, even though the female burglar told him not to shoot because she was pregnant. “The lady didn’t run as fast as the man, so I shot her in the back twice,” Greer told KNBC-TV outside his house. “She’s dead ... but he got away.” An autopsy will determine if Miller was actually pregnant, Los Angeles County coroner’s spokesman Ed Winter said. Gus Adams, 26, her suspected accomplice, was later booked on suspicion of residential burglary and murder and was being held on bail of just over $1 million. The murder charge is possible because Adams is accused of participating in a felony that led to a death, police Chief Jim McDonnell said. The case was referred on Friday to prosecutors
THE ZAPATA TIMES 5A
Sheriff: 300 homes gone in Wash. wildfire Fire is described as the largest in Washington state history ASSOCIATED PRESS
Photo by Sean Hiller/The Press-Telegram | AP
Sgt. Israel Ramirez with the Long Beach Police Department addresses the media Thursday, in Long Beach, Calif. Police could arrest an 80-year-old man who shot a fleeing, unarmed burglar. who will have to decide whether to charge Adams and Greer. A decision might not come until Monday. Under California law, homeowners have a right to protect themselves with deadly force inside their homes and in the immediate vicinity — such as a patio — if they feel they are in imminent danger of great bodily injury or death, said Lawrence Rosenthal, a former federal prosecutor and who teaches law at Chapman University. But this case enters a gray area because Greer, by his own account, chased the burglars and fired at them outside his home as they were fleeing, Rosenthal said. Prosecutors will have to decide if the evidence shows the immediate threat had subsided by the time Greer fired again, or if he still could reasonably fear for his life. “As a technical matter,
this would be a homicide, possibly second-degree murder or voluntary manslaughter, but that doesn’t mean that you should charge everything that’s technically an offense,” Rosenthal said. “The problem here is that all this happens very fast and his legal right to use force probably ended just a few seconds before he did use deadly force. So the question is should you charge somebody on the basis of what really was a series of split-second decisions when he’s just been robbed and physically assaulted?” Miller and Adams, who had histories of similar crimes, were unarmed, McDonnell said. Greer had been burglarized three times before and believed the same suspects were responsible. He returned home shortly after 9 p.m. Tuesday to find the pair in his home. Police said both suspects attacked him, hitting him with their
fists and ultimately bodyslamming him to the floor and breaking his collarbone, McDonnell said. Miller continued to hit him, McDonnell said, while Adams went to a safe and tried to pry it open. When Miller left him to also work on the safe, Greer was able to get to another room where he grabbed a gun and returned to open fire on the suspects, police said. They fled through the garage and into an alley, and Greer chased them, firing again, McDonnell said. McDonnell would not say whether Miller was shot in the back as Greer said. He also declined to say how many shots were fired and whether either of the suspects was hit inside the house before fleeing. No phone listing was available for Greer and he could not be reached for comment by The Associated Press.
TWISP, Wash. — About 300 homes — twice as many as previously estimated — have burned in the largest recorded wildfire in Washington state history, a county sheriff said Friday. Officials had placed the number of homes destroyed at 150 in north-central Washington’s Carlton fire complex. But Okanogan County Sheriff Frank Rogers said he knew that figure would rise because crews hadn’t been able to reach some of the burned areas. The updated estimate came after Rogers and his deputies drove 750 miles of roadway through the blackened area, surveying the devastation. “It’s every road. Every road lost something,” Rogers said. “It looks like a moonscape; there’s nothing left. There’s hundreds of dead livestock. It’s horrifying.” At nearly 400 square miles, the lightning-caused Carlton Complex has eclipsed the 1902 Yacolt Burn, which killed 38 people and consumed about 373 square miles, or 238,920 acres, in southwest Washington. The Carlton Complex has been blamed for the death of a man who appeared to suffer a heart attack while trying to protect his property. Fire crews have reported good progress in the last few days, with cooler weather and rain helping
in getting the fire a little more than half contained. But officials were concerned that hotter, drier weather and wind gusts in the forecast could increase fire activity. The fire has been burning in the scenic Methow Valley, a popular area for hiking and fishing about 180 miles northeast of Seattle. The fire destroyed 30 homes in the town of Pateros, one of the worst-hit areas. Power was finally restored to parts of the valley, including Twisp and Winthrop, on Friday, eight days after the fire burned two key utility lines. But many people in outlying areas remained without electricity, Rogers said. Gov. Jay Inslee on Friday extended a burn ban for dry eastern Washington for one more week. The ban had been set to end Friday. “While fire crews have made significant progress over the past week in bringing the fires under control, weather conditions are still a concern and we need to continue erring on the side of safety,” Inslee said. “Resources are still stretched thin and we want everything we have focused on containing the remaining fires and helping impacted families.” He also said that the state would waive permit requirements for anyone in the affected areas who wants to use extra-large generators because they remain without power.
PÁGINA 6A
Zfrontera
Agenda en Breve LAREDO 07/26— Venta de artículos usados por las Damas de la Sociedad del Altar de St. John Neumann, de 7 a.m. a 1 p.m., en terrenos de la iglesia, 102 W. Hillside. Habrá ropa, artículos de cocina, juguetes, libros, blancos, muebles, entre otras cosas. 07/26— Quinto día Annual de Apreciación de los Gatos – Concurso de Gatos, en la tienda PETCO, 2450 Monarch Dr., de 3:30 p.m. a 6 p.m. Donación, 10 dólares por cada categoría donde participe la mascota. Las ganancias se destinarán a implementar un programa para atrapar, castrar o esterilizar, y regresar, en Laredo. Detalles en el (956) 286-7866. 07/26— Exhibición “Descubre a los Dinosaurios” en Laredo Energy Arena, de 10 a.m. a 8 p.m. Evento tiene costo. Visite learena.com para más información. 07/26— Audiciones para formar parte del programa gratuito para bailarines (varones) de 8 a 17 años de edad por parte del Laredo School of Contemporary Dance. Cita es de 12 p.m. a 2 p.m. en 5901 McPherson Rd. Ste 12-13A. Informes en el (956) 220-1532. 07/26— El Planetario Lamar Bruni Vergara de TAMIU, estará proyectando “Star Signs” a las 3 p.m.; Black Holes” a las 4 p.m.; y “Pink Floyd: Dark Side of the Moon” a las 5 p.m. Costo de admisión general es de 4 dólares para niños y 5 dólares adultos. 07/26— La empresa Liberty Tax Service, 1102 N Meadow, esquina con Chihuahua, invita a un seminario gratuito sobre el tema “Impuestos para Auto Empleo” relacionados a consejos para libros de contabilidad, de 7 p.m. a 9 p.m. Informes llamando al (956) 717-1040 y (832) 275-5727. 07/26— LTGI y TAMIU presentan ‘My Fair Lady’, a las 8 p.m. en el Teatro del Center for the Fine and Performing Arts de TAMIU. Costo: 20 dólares; 15 dólares para estudiantes con ID y adultos mayores. Informes en el (956) 319-8610. 07/26— “The Little Mermaid Jr” de Disney se presenta en Laredo Little Theater, 4802 Thomas Avenue, a las 8 p.m. Costo: 10 dólares, adultos, y 5 dólares, niños. 07/26— Reunión de la Generación ’94 de Cigarroa High School, a llevarse a cabo hoy y el sábado 26 de julio. Contacte a Verónica Sánchez a verosanchez1976@gmail.com para más información. 07/27— Carrera de bicicleta, organizada por Nopalooza MTB Race Team Rebelution, se realizará en el Rancho Morales, por Mines Road. Habrá desde categoría infantil hasta profesional. Amenizarán los Jolly Ranchers, y se ofrecerá entretenimiento, regalos, bebidas y comida. Costos: División U16 (niños), 10 dólares; resto de las divisiones, 30 dólares. Inscríbase visitando bikereg.com. Carrera iniciará a las 8:30 a.m.
NACIONAL
Reunión gestores POR JOSH LEDERMAN Y LUIS ALONSO LUGO ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON— El presidente Barack Obama instará a los mandatarios de Honduras, El Salvador y Guatemala a que traten de disminuir la afluencia de niños no acompañados que huyen de sus países a Estados Unidos aunque el Congreso siga profundamente dividido con respecto a algunas iniciativas presupuestales para frenar la crisis en la frontera. La reunión del viernes se produce mientras el gobierno considera la creación de un programa piloto que ofrecería el estatus de refugiados a los jóvenes hondureños. Funcionarios de la Casa Blanca dijeron que el plan incluiría una investigación de los antecedentes de los jóve-
nes en su país para determinar si califican, o no, como refugiados. El programa sólo incluye y se iniciaría en Honduras pero podría ser ampliado para incluir otros países de Centroamérica, dijeron funcionarios de la Casa Blanca. La Casa Blanca dice que los requisitos que establece de Ley de Inmigración y Ciudadanía para otorgar el estatus de refugiado serían los mismos para los jóvenes hondureños y añadió que el objetivo es disuadir a quienes no califican como refugiados antes de que inicien el peligroso viaje. Los funcionarios dieron esta información a los periodistas antes de la reunión de Obama bajo la condición de que no fueran identificados. Dos de los tres mandatarios centroamericanos han dicho que desconocen el plan.
“Este tema lo estamos tratando los tres países de forma conjunta. No miraría la razón por la cual se dé un trato a unos y un trato a otros", dijo el presidente guatemalteco Otto Pérez Molina a periodistas en la Organización de los Estados Americanos. “Aquí hemos estado dando un mensaje en la misma línea el presidente de Honduras, el de El Salvador y mi persona, y esperamos que también la solución para este problema sea recíproco para los tres países”. Los tres líderes centroamericanos visitaron la mañana del viernes el Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo, cuyo presidente Luis Enrique Moreno les ofreció apoyo técnico para diseñar un plan de largo plazo que combata las causas estructurales de la crisis, con apoyo de otros gobiernos e instituciones.
Los congresistas estadounidenses están estudiando varias adiciones presupuestales del gobierno por 3.700 millones de dólares para enviar a los niños no acompañados de vuelta a sus países de origen con mayor rapidez. Pero no parece probable que resuelvan sus diferencias antes de que vuelvan a sus distritos electorales a finales la próxima semana cuando inicie su receso de agosto. Más de 57.000 menores han llegado a Estados Unidos desde octubre, en su mayoría de Honduras, Guatemala y El Salvador. El trío de naciones se ha convertido en una de las regiones más violentas del mundo en los últimos años, con franjas de los tres países bajo el control de traficantes de drogas y pandillas que roban, violan y extorsiona a sus ciudadanos con entera impunidad.
REYNOSA, MÉXICO
SEGURIDAD
TÍTULO NACIONAL
Mueren seis durante combates Incidentes ocurrieron en Valle Hermoso, México ASSOCIATED PRESS
Foto de cortesía | Gobierno de Tamaulipas
En la imagen los niños integrantes del equipo de Reynosa, México, que ganó el título Nacional Pre Infantil en la categoría de 9 y 10 años, mostrando sus medallas y el trofeo de primer lugar, tras su victoria el martes por la tarde.
Se corona equipo de categoría 9-10 años ESPECIAL PARA TIEMPO DE ZAPATA
U
n equipo del Estado de Tamaulipas, ha sido acreedor al título Nacional Pre Infantil en la categoría de 9 y 10 años, después de ganar al equipo de Sonora, en el parque anfitrión de la Liga “Treviño Kelly”, en Reynosa, Tamaulipas, México, el martes. Fue en la novena entrada que el equipo de Reynosa se impuso con un marcador de 2 carreras a una, señala un comunicado. Sonora hizo su única carrera en la primera entrada por conducto de Luis Serna mientras que los niños tamaulipecos lo hicieron en el cierre del sexto episodio a través de Marlon Rodríguez y César Monjarraz. El pitcher ganador fue Isaac Miranda con salvamento de Ever Sosa en el séptimo episodio en donde los sonorenses buscaban la carrera del empate pero los lanzamientos de Sosa, impidieron la igualada para darle a Tamaulipas un logro deportivo nacional en México. Al evento acudieron equipos representativos de San Luis Potosí, Baja California Norte, Baja California Sur, Aguascalientes, Chihuahua, Coahuila A y B., Distrito Federal, Duran-
Foto de cortesía | Gobierno de Tamaulipas
En la imagen los niños integrantes del equipo de Reynosa, México, que ganó el título Nacional Pre Infantil en la categoría de 9 y 10 años, después de anotar la segunda carrera que les diera la victoria frente al equipo de Sonora el martes por la tarde. go, La Laguna, Nayarit, Nuevo León, Puebla, Veracruz, Sonora y Tamaulipas, todos estados mexicanos. El torneo fue realizado en honor al
NUEVO LAREDO, MÉXICO 07/26— Estación Palabra presenta las siguientes actividades: Bazar de Arte, a las 10 a.m.; Te Leo a la Una, a la 1 p.m.; Festival Infantil: El Cielo, a las 2 p.m. Todos los eventos son gratuitos. 07/26— Festival de Monólogos ‘Teatro a una sola voz’ presenta: “Se rompen las olas” a las 7 p.m. en el Teatro Experimental del Centro Cultural. 07/27— Domingo de Teatro Universitario presenta “Romeo y Julieta” a las 5 p.m. en el Teatro Lucio Blanco de Casa de la Cultura. Costo: 20 pesos.
SABADO 26 DE JULIO DE 2014
Alcalde de Reynosa, José Elías Leal, como manera para agradecer el apoyo al deporte en este municipio, sostiene un comunicado.
MEXICO — Seis presuntos miembros del crimen organizado murieron en tiroteos en Tamaulipas, informaron las autoridades estatales. El gobierno de Tamaulipas indicó en un comunicado de prensa que cinco de las personas fallecieron tras enfrentamientos entre grupos rivales, y otro más en un tiroteo de hombres armados con marinos. La mayoría de los enfrentamientos ocurrió en la municipalidad de Valle Hermoso, cercano a la frontera con Texas, donde las autoridades localizaron los cuerpos de cinco hombres con edades de entre 30 y 40 años quienes fueron asesinados en el estacionamiento de una tienda de conveniencia. En otro hecho, también en Valle Hermoso, hombres armados atacaron a marinos que patrullaban la zona y tras un tiroteo murió uno de los agresores. Los enfrentamientos ocurrieron la noche del martes y el gobierno de Tamaulipas las dio a conocer la noche del miércoles. Ninguna de las víctimas ha sido identificada y tampoco a qué grupo del crimen organizado pertenecerían. Tamaulipas es un estado en el que en los últimos años se han registrado enfrentamientos entre los carteles rivales del Golfo y Los Zetas.
VIALIDAD
TxDOT exhorta a conducir con seguridad ESPECIAL PARA TIEMPO DE ZAPATA
El auge energético que está trayendo más nuevos empleos y prosperidad a las comunidades en la región de Eagle Ford Shale, también está dejando más tráfico, personal de trabajo y camionetas a las carreteras locales. En un esfuerzo para reducir los accidentes en las áreas donde se ha incrementado el tráfico, el Departamento de Transportes de Texas (TxDOT,
por sus siglas en inglés) recuerda a los conductores a “Manténgase seguro. Conduzca Inteligentemente”, en las áreas de trabajo energético, este verano. “La actividad petrolera ha creado un volumen sin precedentes de tráfico en muchas partes de nuestro estado”, dijo el Teniente General Joe Weber, director ejecutivo de TxDOT. “Es más importante que nunca que los conductores pongan total atención a la
carretera. También deben obedecer las leyes de tráfico y bajar la velocidad cuando transiten por comunidades con actividad petrolera”. En colaboración con la industria de gas y petróleo, las comunidades locales y fuerzas del orden la campaña de TxDOT “Manténgase seguro. Conduzca Inteligentemente” tiene como objetivo reducir el número de accidentes y fatalidades en la región de Ea-
gle Ford Shale. Para ayudar a multiplicar los hábitos de conducción segura, TxDOT ha colocado más señalética vial en las áreas petroleras. Estas señales recordarán a los residentes locales y viajeros el “Darles Espacio a los Trailers”, “Conducir ahora, Enviar Mensajes Después”, “De Verdad, Detenerse Significa Detenerse”, entre otros. En 2013 se reportaron 3.450 accidentes de tráfico
en el área de Eagle Ford Shale, que resultó en lesiones graves para los involucrados e incluso en fatalidades, un incremento de 7 por ciento sobre el número del año pasado. El resultado fue de 238 fatalidades en un área de 26 condados alrededor del área de Eagle Ford Shale que van desde Laredo hasta Huntsville. Para más información puede llamar al (512) 4638700.
Nation
SATURDAY, JULY 26, 2014
THE ZAPATA TIMES 7A
Gunman eyed others 3 die as car hits crowd ASSOCIATED PRESS
ASSOCIATED PRESS
MEDIA, Pa. — A psychiatric patient ranted about a hospital gun ban before opening fire at the suburban medical complex, killing his caseworker and grazing his psychiatrist before the doctor pulled out his own weapon and fired back, authorities said Friday. Dr. Lee Silverman emptied his chamber, striking patient Richard Plotts several times. Plotts by then had shot the caseworker in the face and fired several shots at Silverman, including one that grazed his temple and another that struck his thumb, official said. Plotts had 39 unspent bullets on him when he was wrestled to the ground at Mercy Fitzgerald Hospital in Darby, authorities say — and police believe he had planned to use them. “I believe that if the doctor did not have a firearm, (and) the doctor did not utilize the firearm, he’d be dead today, and I believe that other people in that facility would also be dead,” Delaware County District Attorney Jack Whelan said Friday. Plotts, 49, was sedated but in stable condition after surgery Thursday from his gunshot wounds, police said. They expect to arraign him bedside at a Philadelphia hospital on Friday, charging him with murder in the death of 53year-old caseworker Barbara Hunt. Plotts does not have a listed home number, and it was unclear if he has relatives in the area. “When the caseworker was shot, (Silverman) crouched down behind the desk to avoid him being shot,” Whelan said. “He was able to reach for his weapon, and realizing it was a life-or-death situation, was able to engage
PHILADELPHIA — Two men forced a woman into the backseat of her sport utility vehicle at gunpoint, drove off but later lost control and plowed into a group of people on a corner near a fruit stand on Friday, police said. Three children, all siblings, were killed, and at least two other people were critically injured. The woman was carjacked about a mile away from the scene of the accident in the Tioga section of north Philadelphia, where the car jumped a curb, Homicide Capt. James Clark said. “Something obviously went horribly wrong at this intersection,” he said.
Associated Press
A hospital worker views police activity near the scene of a shooting at a wellness center attached to Mercy Fitzgerald Hospital in Darby, Pa., on Thursday. the defendant in the exchange of gunfire.” The struggle spilled into the hallway, where another doctor and caseworker jumped in to help Silverman and secure Plotts’ weapon, Whelan said. Police in Upper Darby, where Plotts lived, were aware of at least three mental health commitments — once after he cut his wrists and once when he threatened suicide — but said such stays can last just one to three days. Plotts also had at least four gun arrests, along with assault and drug charges, according to police and court records. And he has been barred from at least one residential shelter because of his violent history, Upper Darby police Superintendent Michael Chitwood said Friday. “The case workers and the doctors and the catchment centers — they know who violent individuals are, because they’re frequent fliers. And the system is not geared toward keeping these people housed somewhere until they start to be better. So you put whole communities at risk,” Chitwood said. Cathy Nickel, a neighbor at Plotts’ last known
address, an apartment complex in Upper Darby, saw a caseworker move him out of the building about a year ago. As he was taken away in a van, she said, he yelled, “You haven’t heard the end of me!” Plotts had complained to Silverman previously about the gun policy. He showed up nearly an hour early Thursday for a regular appointment with the doctor, whom he had last seen about six weeks ago. Silverman called the caseworker to join them, officials said. Colleagues heard arguing during the appointment and saw Plotts aiming a gun at Silverman when they peaked inside the door. They quietly backed out and called 911. The shooting soon began, just before 2:30 p.m. The psychiatrist was recuperating at home Friday. His wife said he did not want to discuss the shooting, and she also declined to comment. Hospital policy bars anyone except on-duty law enforcement officers from carrying weapons on campus, a Mercy Health System spokeswoman said. She otherwise declined to discuss why Silverman was armed at work.
“The vehicle went out of control.” The victims who died were 7- and 10-year-old brothers and their 15-yearold sister. They had been selling fruit to raise money for their church. Police said one of the boys was pronounced dead at the scene and the girl died at a hospital. The other boy died later. Their mother was in critical condition. The two men fled the scene on foot and are being sought. Employees at Education Works, an educational nonprofit across the street from the site of the wreck, told The Philadelphia Inquirer that they ran to try to help the victims. One boy had no pulse and an-
other’s was barely there, said Karen Payne, who runs a summer camp at the nonprofit. “I’m certified in first aid and CPR — my first instinct was to go to them,” she said. “But I couldn’t help.” Officials said a $40,000 reward was being offered, $20,000 for each victim of what were classified as homicides. Police asked businesses with surveillance cameras in the area to provide footage and asked anyone with information in the case to come forward. The deaths and injuries were a “terrible tragedy,” Mayor Michael Nutter tweeted, calling for prayers for the injured and information on the carjackers.
Time for mayflies Summer means it’s time for mayflies to swarm, mate, die By M.L. JOHNSON ASSOCIATED PRESS
MILWAUKEE — Mayflies have begun emerging from the Mississippi River in swarms that show up on radar like thunderstorms, coat roads and leave behind slimy messes. They’ve been blamed for at least one car crash this week in Wisconsin. The flies hatch and then spend a year burrowed into the sediment on the bottom of the river that serves as a border between Wisconsin and Minnesota. They emerge the next summer to mate, lay eggs and die, all in less than 48 hours. Mayflies, sensitive to oxygen levels and pollutants in the river, serve as “sentinels” for scientists and others concerned about water quality, said Mark
Steingraeber, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist. Mayflies disappeared from a 70-mile area south of the Twin Cities in the 1920s and didn’t reappear in significant numbers again until 1978, when wastewater treatment and others actions taken under the Clean Water Act began to have an impact. The National Weather Service captured a swarm on radar Sunday night as the flies came out of the river and drifted north. The radar system picks up energy reflected off the flies, with the image’s intensity reflecting the density of the bugs. A loop recorded Sunday shows yellow patches directly over the river that morph into a green band as the flies drift north. The bugs become blue dots as they disperse.
A second, smaller swarm recorded Thursday night starts as a green band before exploding like fireworks into blue dots. “Almost every night in the summer, there’s some sense on the radar that there’s something coming off the river,” said Dan Baumgardt, science and operations officer for the National Weather Service in La Crosse. “We don’t know what kind of bug it is ... until we have people calling or saying, ‘Oh my gosh, there’s mayflies all in the La Crosse area.’” The weather service typically records several swarms each year from June through August. Air and water temperatures have been usually cool this year, helping explain why Sunday’s emergence was the first big one this summer, Steingraeber said.
Mexico
8A THE ZAPATA TIMES
SATURDAY, JULY 26, 2014
Six to stand trial in group home case ASSOCIATED PRESS
Photo by Rebecca Blackwell | AP
A performer dressed in native American garb leaps on and off a running horse during a free public show to protest Mexico City’s ban on circus animals in Mexico City’s main square, the Zocalo. Mexico’s “circus wars” are heating up, with a movement to ban circus animals, other than horses and dogs.
Circuses caught up in animal rights dispute Activists, environmentalists seek to ban circus animals; threaten circuses, performers with violence By MARK STEVENSON ASSOCIATED PRESS
MEXICO CITY — Mexico’s “circus wars” are heating up, with a growing movement to ban circus animals meeting rising anger from circus workers. There have been messages posted on social networking sites urging people to attack circuses, Armando Cedeno, the head of the nation’s circus owners association, said at a demonstration by circus performers Tuesday. “We have a lot of threats on Facebook, with environmentalists urging people to go burn down circuses, which is very worrisome,” Cedeno said as he oversaw a protest in Mexico City’s main square at which circus entertainers put on a free show with horses and dogs — the only animals they will be allowed to use under a new city law banning acts with lions, tigers, elephants and other “wild” animals. Aguascalientes state legislator Gilberto Gutierrez, a member of Mexico’s Green party, said violence has already been inflicted by the circus side. He said security guards beat him and other animal rights activists in front of a circus in his state in late June. “They broke two of my teeth ... it was a direct hit,” Gutierrez said. “It was an attack by the circus people, by the security guards they employ.” The circus claimed the animal activists were
blocking the entrance to the circus in Aguascalientes, where it is still legal to perform with exotic animals. Insults flew first, then fists and belts, the circus said. Gutierrez acknowledged the demonstrators were posted in a narrow, fourfoot strip of sidewalk at the entrance, but he insisted nobody was prevented from entering. At least two security personnel were detained in the case. There have been mutual
out.” Vertiz said someone also spray-painted circus trailers and tried to break into circus vehicles. He said he suspects animal rights activists but conceded he has no proof. Gutierrez denied animal activists have broken the law. “We will take this issue to its final consequences, without breaking the law,” he said. Animal rights activists say they are fighting the kind of abuses that came to
There have been mutual accusations of illegal acts, including a giraffe set loose to gallop through Monterrey. accusations of illegal acts, including a giraffe set loose to gallop through a suburb of the northern city of Monterrey. Video posted on social media sites showed surprised motorists making quick maneuvers to avoid the galloping giraffe outside the circus grounds, and the Barley Circus accused animal rights activists of opening the pen so the giraffe could escape. Barley Circus spokesman Isaac Vertiz said: “The giraffe is always let outside in the morning, and the keeper went back inside for a moment to get food” for the giraffe. “In the meantime, within five minutes, somebody went in and opened the pen and let her
light in March when environmental inspectors raided a small, provincial circus in the southern state of Yucatan and seized a black bear that had its lower jaw and upper teeth largely ripped out or cut off, apparently to keep it from biting. On the other side, circus people say they are closely regulated and inspected, and they feel the Mexico City ban passed in June unfairly singles them out. Mexico City and six of Mexico’s 32 states have now banned circus animals. The circus-animal ban does not apply to shows with dolphins or bullfighting nor does it prohibit the use of animals in Mexico’s traditional rodeos.
MEXICO CITY — A Mexican judge has ordered six employees of a group home raided amid charges of abuse and filthy conditions to stand trial, federal prosecutors said Thursday. The five men and one woman have been charged with kidnapping for allegedly refusing to release residents and with human trafficking for purportedly forcing them to beg for money. The six also face organized crime charges, the Attorney General’s Office said in a statement. The office has also ordered the property that housed the Great Family group home to be seized,
it said. Federal prosecutors said this week that they wouldn’t charge the home’s owner and founder, Rosa Verduzco, known as “Mama Rosa,” with any wrongdoing because she is not mentally fit. The shelter was raided by police on July 15 and officers found about 600 children and adults living at the filthy, trash-strewn compound. Residents of the shelter told authorities that some employees beat and raped residents, fed them rotting food or locked them in a tiny “punishment” room. In an interview with Univision television net-
work this week, Verduzco, 79, denied that there was a punishment cell or that rotten food was served at the shelter in Zamora, in the western state of Michoacan. She said a small, barred room was an infirmary used to hold sick residents so they wouldn’t walk around. Verduzco, once revered for her work in taking in orphan children for almost 65 years, told the television network that in recent years the shelter started housing children with behavioral problems or from broken homes and many stayed on after reaching adulthood. Most were taken to the shelter by their parents or child welfare agencies.
SATURDAY, JULY 26, 2014
THE ZAPATA TIMES 9A
THE WEEK IN REVIEW WEEKLY STOCK EXCHANGE HIGHLIGHTS
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Stock Footnotes: g=Dividends and earnings in Canadian dollars .h= Doe not meet continued- listings tandards lf = Late filing with SEC. n = New in past 52 weeks. pf = Preferred. rs = Stock has undergone a reverse stock split of at least 50 percent within the past year. rt = Right to buy security at a specified price. s = Stock has split by at least 20 percent within the last year. un = Units. vj = In bankruptcy or receivership. wd = When distributed. wi = When issued. wt = Warrants. Mutual Fund Footnotes: b = Fee covering market costs is paid from fund assets. d = Deferred sales charge, or redemption fee. f = front load (sales charges). m = Multiple fees are charged. NA = not available. p = previous day’s net asset value. s = fund split shares during the week. x = fund paid a distribution during the week. Gainers and Losers must be worth at least $2 to be listed in tables at left. Most Actives must be worth at least $1. Volume in hundreds of shares. Source: The Associated Press. Sales figures are unofficial.
By KARIN LAUB AND IAN DEITCH ASSOCIATED PRESS
Photo by Mahmoud Illean | AP
Israeli police officers detain a Palestinian man during clashes in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Wadi Joz near Jerusalem’s Old City on Friday. the parties.” Gaza fighting continued alongside the truce efforts. Israeli airstrikes hit more than 80 sites in Gaza, while militants in the tiny Mediterranean strip fired 50 rockets at Israel, the army said. Among the sites hit in Gaza were 30 homes, including that of a leader of the Islamic Jihad group who was killed along with his sons, Palestinian officials said. And unrest sparked by the conflict intensified in the West Bank, where five Palestinians were killed during protests against the Israeli operation in Gaza. The U.S. top diplomat said the goal of halting fighting for seven days was to provide time to work out further talks to address each side’s demands. He said some “terminology” on a truce’s framework still needed work. Hamas demands the release of Palestinian prisoners in addition to an end to the 7-year-old border blockade imposed by Israel and Egypt after the group seized Gaza from the Western-backed government of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Israeli TV reports said Israel’s Security Cabinet unanimously rejected Kerry’s proposal in its current form, mainly because it would mean Israel has to cut short the effort to destroy tunnels. But Kerry said he had not submitted a formal proposal to Israel for the Cabinet to vote on. Israeli government officials were not immediately available for comment. The worst round of cross-border fighting in more than five years has killed 828 Palestinians and wounded more than 5,200, according to Palestinian health officials. The U.N. says civilians make up threefourths of the dead and a majority
of the wounded. In Israel, 38 people have been killed since July 8, including 35 soldiers, two Israeli civilians and a Thai worker. The army announced on Friday that an Israeli soldier whom Hamas had claimed to have captured earlier this week had in fact died in battle on that day. The declaration lifts fears of a soldier in Hamas custody — one of Israel’s worst-case scenarios in any fight with the militants. The army said it determined that Sgt. Oron Shaul was killed among seven soldiers killed in a vehicle that was hit by an anti-tank missile in Gaza on Sunday. The others in the vehicle were confirmed dead soon after the battle ended but Shaul’s remains were not immediately identified. Shaul is among the count of 35 soldiers killed in the fighting. As the Gaza fighting drags on, the West Bank is becoming increasingly restive. Protests erupted Friday in the northern village of Hawara, near the city of Nablus, and the southern village of Beit Omar, near the city of Hebron. Palestinian hospital officials said three Palestinians were killed in Beit Omar and two in Hawara. The mayor of Hawara, Mouin Idmeidi, said he and hundreds of others from the village participated in a protest after emerging from a local mosque after Friday prayers. Hawara is located along a main north-south thoroughfare that is also used by Israeli motorists. The mayor said an Israeli motorist slowed down as he passed the march and fired at the group. The mayor said four people were wounded and that one of them, a 19year-old, died at Rafidiyeh Hospital in Nablus of his injuries.
FOSTER CARE Continued from Page 1A partment of Family and Protective Services, said that the system fails when children are shuttled between so many homes. He said he’s pushing for an agency “culture change” that would make foster care placements more permanent, saying no child should reach adulthood while still bouncing around the system. “I’ve met very, very few children that aged out of the foster care sys-
17,151.56 8,515.04 576.98 11,334.65 4,485.93 1,991.39 1,452.01 21,108.12 1,213.55 5,970.50
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No deal yet for Gaza truce JERUSALEM — U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Friday that more work was needed to reach a deal between Israel and Hamas for a seven-day truce in the Gaza war. Israel’s defense minister warned that the military may soon broaden its ground operation “significantly.” The tough statement by Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon, coupled with Kerry’s inability to broker even a temporary cease-fire after a week of shuttling around the region, signaled the fighting is likely to drag on, with more than 820 Palestinians and 38 people in Israel killed so far. In a statement issued shortly after Kerry spoke at a press conference in Cairo, Yaalon’s office quoted him telling troops in the field that “you need to be ready for the possibility that very soon we will instruct the military to significantly broaden the ground operation in Gaza.” “Hamas is paying a very heavy price and will pay an even heavier price,” Yaalon said. “At the end of the operation, Hamas will have to think very hard if it is worth it to taunt us in the future.” Israel has said a key objective of its ground operation is to destroy Hamas military tunnels under the Gaza-Israel border — and Israeli media have said the military wants more time to complete the mission. Of 31 discovered so far, about half have been destroyed. The tunnels, used by Hamas in the past to sneak into Israel, are seen as a strategic threat against Israel. For days, Kerry has been moving between the Egyptian capital, the West Bank and Jerusalem and talking to officials from Qatar, which is in contact with Hamas. But the most Kerry seemed to have won so far was a willingness from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to consider a far less ambitious 12-hour halt in fighting, proposed by U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon. Netanyahu, Kerry said, “has indicated his willingness to do that as a good faith down payment to move forward.” Still, Kerry said that the parties are closer than ever to an agreement for a seven-day “humanitarian” truce to start with the Muslim Eid holiday on Monday, ending the holy month of Ramadan. Speaking alongside the U.N. secretary-general and the Egyptian foreign minister, Kerry insisted that there was a general agreement on the “concept” of a truce but that both sides had concerns over details of carrying it out. “Gaps have been significantly narrowed,” he said. “It can be achieved, if we work through some of the issues that are important for
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WEEKLY DOW JONES
tem, that were in the system for any length of time, that had a good experience,” said Specia who has been in his post about 18 months. “If a child goes in at 2 and ages out at 18, we’ve failed miserably and the child is going to have very, very serious problems.” Specia said that, today, 40 percent of Texas foster children have been placed with relatives, and that he’d
like to see that increase. “We have problems in some foster homes I will not deny that,” Specia said. “We have an awful lot of good providers out there doing a good job, and we have a lot of foster parents out there doing a good job.” Dukes, an Austin Democrat, responded: “And we have a lot of folks that are not, and that’s the reason we are having hearings.”
Prime Rate Discount Rate Federal Funds Rate Treasuries 3-month 6-month 5-year 10-year 30-year
CURRENCIES Pvs Week
3.25 0.75 .00-.25 0.03 0.06 1.68 2.47 3.24
Last
Pvs Day
3.25 Australia 1.0643 1.0621 0.75 Britain 1.6977 1.6984 .00-.25 Canada 1.0815 1.0747 Euro .7444 .7427 0.02 Japan 101.80 101.83 0.06 Mexico 12.9576 12.9597 1.67 Switzerlnd .9048 .9026 2.48 3.29 British pound expressed in U.S. dollars. All others show dollar in foreign currency.
MUTUAL FUNDS Name
Total Assets Obj ($Mlns) NAV
Total Return/Rank Pct Min Init 4-wk 12-mo 5-year Load Invt
Alliance Bernstein GlTmtcGA m Columbia ComInfoA m Eaton Vance WldwHealA m Fidelity Select Biotech d Fidelity Select BrokInv d Fidelity Select CommEq d Fidelity Select Computer d Fidelity Select ConsFin d Fidelity Select Electron d Fidelity Select FinSvc d Fidelity Select SoftwCom d Fidelity Select Tech d PIMCO TotRetIs T Rowe Price SciTech Vanguard 500Adml Vanguard HlthCare Vanguard InstIdxI Vanguard TotStIAdm Vanguard TotStIdx Waddell & Reed Adv SciTechA m
WS 610 ST 2,618 SH 937 SH 8,664 SF 641 ST 294 ST 661 SF 165 ST 1,782 SF 1,236 ST 3,149 ST 2,465 CI 144,452 ST 3,130 LB 105,758 SH 10,320 LB 94,753 LB 99,159 LB 114,516 ST 3,736
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CA -Conservative Allocation, CI -Intermediate-Term Bond, ES -Europe Stock, FB -Foreign Large Blend, FG -Foreign LargeGrowth, FV -Foreign Large Value, IH -World Allocation, LB -Large Blend, LG -Large Growth, LV -Large Value, MA -Moderate Allocation, MB -Mid-Cap Blend, MV - MidCap Value, SH -Specialty-heath, WS -World Stock, Total Return: Chng in NAV with dividends reinvested. Rank: How fund performed vs. others with same objective: A is in top 20%, E in bottom 20%. Min Init Invt: Minimum $ needed to invest in fund. Source: Morningstar.
CHILDREN Continued from Page 1A the flow. U.S. immigration and border patrol officials created new processing centers, according to current officials and others familiar with the issue. The agency responsible for the children’s well-being was the Department of Health and Human Services. Before the Homeland Security Department was created in 2002, the now-defunct Immigration and Naturalization Service had overseen the handling of minors caught at the border. But under an agreement brokered after immigration rights groups pushed to transfer the responsibility to a non-law-enforcement agency, the 2002 law gave the job to HHS, starting the following year. Furthermore, the 2008 antitrafficking law required Homeland Security to turn over unaccompanied minors from Central America to HHS within 72 hours. That agency would attempt to place the children with family members in the United States — or in temporary shelters — until they were summoned to appear before an immigration judge. Numerous people familiar with the operations said HHS struggled to fulfill its role as the number of children began to rise in 2012. The agency rushed to set up temporary shelters at YMCAs, churches and other community centers. In April 2012, a plan to house 200 children at unused dormitories at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio drew denunciations from immigrant rights groups. HHS officials defended their performance in 2012 and as the crisis has escalated in recent months. Kenneth Wolfe, a spokesman for HHS’ Administration for Children and Families, said the agency has responded by expanding shelter capacity and reducing the amount of time children spend in HHS-funded shelters before being matched with families or sponsors while their cases are pending. “We have made progress in both areas, though significant work remains,” Wolfe said. By the time the team from UTEP arrived at Fort Brown to examine the problem in the summer of 2013, the churn of the young immigrants had far outpaced the government’s capacity. In its report, the UTEP team wrote that border agents were interested in setting up a “welcome center” overseen by HHS that would serve as a clearinghouse for the minors, freeing patrol agents to monitor the border. The number of minors arriving illegally from Central America shot from 3,933 in 2011 to 20,805 in 2013. HHS had secured 5,000 beds across the country — twice as many as the previous year — but that wasn’t enough. Immigration courts were backlogged. Border Patrol stations were overrun. Federal officials estimated that the total number
of minors would soar to 60,000 in 2014. And no one knew what to do with them all. On Capitol Hill, lawmakers began hearing reports of the chaos from nongovernmental organizations and churches with operations in Central America. And they began efforts, in consultation with the administration, to increase federal funding to combat the crisis. In 2011, HHS’ Office of Refugee Resettlement had a budget of $149 million to shelter and care for the foreign children. By 2013, it had grown to $376 million, and the Obama administration requested $495 million in its fiscal 2014 budget proposal. Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard, D-Calif., said Democrats recognized the urgency but feared that if they raised too much of a public outcry, it would create political blowback for the Obama administration’s push to pass a comprehensive immigration overhaul. House Republicans had refused to move forward on a broader overhaul bill, which would include giving millions of illegal immigrants a chance to gain legal status, arguing that Obama had failed to secure the border. They pointed to the administration’s decision in 2011 to order federal agents to employ “prosecutorial discretion” while enforcing deportation laws, focusing on the most violent criminals. That was followed in 2012 by Obama’s announcement during his reelection campaign that the administration would defer the deportations of certain immigrants brought to the country illegally as children before June 2007. Democrats worried that the escalating border crisis would help Republicans make a case that the administration’s policies had failed, Roybal-Allard said. “That was always a concern of mine: How to address the issue in a way that did not detract from the need for comprehensive immigration reform,” she said. A person involved in the planning said that inside the White House, national security staffers were concerned about the growing influx of children but that the influential team of domestic policy advisers was far more focused on the legislative push. “Was the White House told there were huge flows of Central Americans coming? Of course they were told. A lot of times,” said the person, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations. “Was there a general lack of interest and a focus on the legislation? Yes, that’s where the focus was.” Muñoz said the administration’s proposal to overhaul the immigration system would have gone a long way toward alleviating the border crisis and preventing future problems.
10A THE ZAPATA TIMES
SATURDAY, JULY 26, 2014
IMMIGRATION GOP lawmakers said they were attempting to unite behind a narrow package of changes including sending National Guard troops to the border, increasing the number of U.S. immigration judges and changing a law so that migrant youths arriving by the tens of thousands could be sent home more quickly. The package would cost less than $1 billion, several lawmakers said, far less than the $3.7 billion Obama requested to deal with the crisis. A number of Republicans exiting a special meeting on the issue in the Capitol said they had to act before leaving Washington late next week for their annual August recess. “It would be a terrible message; leave town in August without having done anything, knowing that it’s going to create even more of a crisis on the border,” said Rep. Charlie Dent of Pennsylvania. “Doing nothing in my view means that these children will be sent from the border back to communities like mine.” Yet some conservative lawmakers remained skeptical about taking any action. “The acceptable spending level is zero,” said Rep. Louie Gohmert of Texas. And with Senate Democrats opposed to policy changes to return the children quickly without judicial hearings, it looked highly unlikely that a deal could be struck to send a bill to Obama’s desk before August. Friday’s White House meeting with the presidents of Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador came as the administration considered creating a pilot program giving refugee status to young people from Honduras. White House officials said the plan would involve screening youths in their home countries to determine whether they qualify for refugee status. The program would be limited and would start in Honduras but could be expanded to include other Central American countries. White House spokesman Josh Earnest said the pilot plan would be among the topics Obama discussed with his visitors. But he also said the program was meant to keep more migrants from coming to the border rather than as a
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Associated Press
El Salvador President Salvador Sanchez Ceren, left, Guatemala President Otto Perez Molina, President Barack Obama and Honduran President Juan Hernandez discuss Central American immigration Friday, in Washington. way to address the thousands of migrants already in the U.S. He said the conversations with the leaders would focus on how to deter Central Americans by convincing them that if they came to the United states “they would not be welcomed with open arms in this country.” He also said the leaders would discuss how to enhance law enforcement cooperation between the U.S. and countries in the region to improve security, and how to ensure that minors who are returned to Central America don’t go back to the violent conditions they were trying to escape. At the same time, a senior Obama adviser said Friday that the White House is taking seriously the possibility that House Republicans could initiate impeachment proceedings against Obama if he acts on his own later this year on a broader immigration measure that could defer deportations for immigrants who have been inside the United States illegally for years. White House adviser Dan Pfeiffer said that House Speaker John Boehner’s effort to sue Obama over his use of executive authority “has opened the door for Republicans possibly considering impeachment at some point in the future.” “I would not discount that possibility,” he said during a
breakfast with reporters. “I think that when the president acts on immigration reform it will certainly up the likelihood that they would contemplate impeachment at some point.” Boehner has said he has ruled out impeachment, but conservative commentators, including former Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, have called for Obama to be impeached. “It is telling and sad that a senior White House official is focused on political games, rather than helping these kids and securing the border,” Boehner spokesman Michael Steel said. Several House Republicans said there was some discussion in Friday’s meeting of holding a vote, in concert with action on the border, to overturn an earlier Obama directive on immigration that deferred deportation for certain immigrants brought here illegally as children. With some critics contending that that Obama directive and other presidential policies triggered the crisis, the president has been eager to demonstrate an aggressive approach to reducing the flow of immigrants and returning those found not to have a legitimate claim to stay here. The U.S. has mounted a communications campaign to inform Central American residents
that they won’t be allowed to stay in the U.S., and Obama sent a team to Texas this week to weigh the possibility of dispatching the National Guard to the border. More than 57,000 minors have arrived since October, mostly from Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador. The trio of nations has become one of the most violent regions in the world in recent years, with swaths of all three countries under the control of drug traffickers and street gangs that rob, rape and extort ordinary citizens with impunity. In recent weeks, the number of children being apprehended daily has fallen by roughly half, but White House officials said seasonal patterns or other factors unrelated to the administration’s efforts may be responsible for some of the decline. Pfeiffer said Obama supports changes in the 2008 law that would give the administration more authority to turn back Central American migrants at the border. But he said current proposals in Congress, including a bipartisan plan proposed by Texas Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar and Texas Republican Sen. John Cornyn, do not meet White House standards of deterring illegal migration while protecting legitimate claims for asylum from border crossers.
spot holding a fishing net. Perry termed the latest guard infusion a “deter and refer” mission Monday; the troops will deter criminal activity and, if they encounter immigrants who have entered the country illegally, they will refer them to Border Patrol. Since mid-June, Texas already has been paying an additional $1.3 million per week to put more troopers and game wardens in South Texas. The National Guard deployment is expected to cost $12 million per month and they’ve been told to plan for a year. The soldiers will join the more than 3,000 Border Patrol agents already in the area, plus an unspecified number of state law enforcement officers who’ve become nearly as ubiquitous in recent weeks. “We were deployed down here not to deal with the federal immigration part of it,” DPS Lt. Charlie Goble said. “We were deployed down here to deal with the criminal element that comes along with it.” So if DPS or the guardsmen encounter immigrants — including children from Central America who’ve come in droves — they will call Border Patrol, but they will target the smugglers of drugs and people. It is dangerous work. Already this week, two game wardens have been assaulted while on patrol, Parks and Wildlife Capt. James Dunks said. One on the river was hit in the side of the face with a rock. The other, patrolling the bank, had a 10-minute brawl with a human smuggler, and eventually arrested. As those incidents suggest, Dunks said smugglers seem more likely to engage with law enforcement than they were in the past. Still, he said, their preference is to do their work out of sight. “It’s a cat and mouse game,” Goble said. “We’ll counter what they’re doing and then they’ll turn right around and try to counter what we’re doing ... From the time we launch until the time we recover usually we’re being watched. We just continue changing our tactics right along with them. “Our mere presence out here is the biggest deterrence.” Earlier he said, “We aren’t making these arrests daily, but we are seeing a tremendous amount of criminal activity going on.” In the two years since DPS gunboats arrived at the Rio Grande, they have not had to use deadly force. “We were encouraged to make the intimidation factor of these boats overwhelming,” Goble said. But it’s not clear whether they have deterred criminal activity on a waterway where they can’t possibly be everywhere at once. “If you look at the straightaway we’re in, half to three-quarters of a mile straightaway, regardless of what speed we’re travelling, regardless of what speed we’re capable of travelling, there is going to be some time to cover that distance,” Goble said. “Just as we came around the corner a while ago they spotted us. They can very rapidly get personnel and/ or product back to their bank, back to safety.”
SATURDAY, JULY 26, 2014
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Sports&Outdoors MLB: HALL OF FAME
NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE: HOUSTON TEXANS
Johnson returns Veteran Texans receiver ready to play By KRISTIE RIEKEN
Photo by Erik S. Lesser | AP
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Greg Maddux, one of the best pitchers of his generation, won four straight Cy Young awards from 1992-95. The first award came with the Cubs, while the latter three came as a member of the Braves.
HOUSTON — Andre Johnson had some issues with the Houston Texans. In the end, they weren’t serious enough to keep the star receiver off the field. Johnson was all smiles when he reported to camp on time Friday. He’s looking to move past an offseason where he skipped workouts and a mandatory minicamp after wondering in May whether Houston was “still the place for me.” “I love playing this game of football,” Johnson said Friday. “I’m going to play football and ... I don’t plan on walking away from this.” He wouldn’t divulge what exactly was said or done to get him to return to the team. But said he’s excited to be back with his teammates and that it’s his plan to finish his career with the Texans. His teammates shared his enthusiasm and said he received a standing ovation and was greeted with a slow clap when he entered a meeting on Friday morning. “He’s a huge part of our team,” left tackle Duane Brown said. “He’s been my teammate my whole time here and is a guy that I really look up to as a professional and it was good to have him in the building.” The 33-year-old Johnson, whose 1,407 yards receiving in 2013 ranked second in the AFC, rejoins a team that is looking to bounce back from a disastrous 214 season. He’s the longest-tenured Texan after joining the franchise in its second season. In that time he’s played on just three teams with winning records, fueling his frustration. “I’ve been here 12 years. There’s been a lot of things that happened,” he said. “I’ve never really voiced my opinion on them. I think at times there comes a time when you don’t agree with something, things need to be said. That’s pretty much what it was.” He said his unhappiness stemmed from playing here so long and feeling
Baseball’s Class of 2014 Maddux, Glavine, Thomas to be inducted Sunday ASSOCIATED PRESS
File photo by Chris O’Meara | AP
After skipping the team’s previous offseason activities, veteran wide receiver Andre Johnson received a standing ovation when he walked into a training camp meeting on Friday morning. that his opinions were not being heard. “It gets frustrating,” he said. “After what happened last year, we went 2-14 and things like that, it wasn’t only frustrating for me, I understand it was frustrating for everybody.” He knows some fans were angry at him for skipping Houston’s offseason work, but said the people he came into contact with were overwhelmingly supportive. “It was never nothing negative,” he said. “I think if anybody had something
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negative, it was behind my back. It was nothing said to my face. It was a lot of positive things. People telling me that they’re praying for me. Things like that. They understand the way I felt.” Johnson has been the one constant on this young franchise through three different coaching regimes, several quarterback changes and countless player moves. Houston’s first two No. 1 overall draft picks David Carr and Ma-
COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. — Frank Thomas was always driven to excel, and that sure served him well. “I was never that blue-chip prospect,” he said. “I had to outwork my opponents.” Hard to imagine now that Thomas was ever anything except a huge star. For Thomas, the 6-foot-5, 240-pound former Chicago White Sox slugger known as the Big Hurt, life has come full circle — from awe-struck rookie in 1990 to baseball royalty. Thomas was elected in January to the Hall of Fame, along with pitchers Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine. Also to be inducted Sunday are managers Joe Torre, Tony La Russa and Bobby Cox, who were selected in December. “This is the top 1 percent in all of baseball that gets in the Hall of Fame,” said Thomas, the first player elected to the Hall of Fame who spent more than half of his time as a designated hitter. “As a kid, the big dream
See TEXANS PAGE 2B See HALL OF FAME PAGE 2B
NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE: NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS
Gronk excited to take field ASSOCIATED PRESS
File photo by Chris O’Meara | AP
Gil Brandt was the co-host of the first program on Sirius NFL Radio a decade ago, and the channel has since built a large and influential audience.
24-hour NFL radio a massive success By BARRY WILNER ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK — A 24-hour channel devoted solely to pro football? On satellite radio? What was Sirius thinking? Not even the people launching the station could be sure where it was headed. And a decade later, their dedicated listeners range from Robert Kraft to Mike Shanahan to Sean Payton. And from players on all 32 teams to truck drivers traveling
the length and width of the nation. “We were ahead of everybody,” says Gil Brandt, the former Cowboys personnel director, current NFL draft consultant — and co-host of the very first program on Sirius NFL Radio on Aug. 2, 2004. “I marvel at it. I go into the grocery store or barber shop now, and even women are telling me, ’You said this and this and this’ on the air.
See SIRIUS PAGE 2B
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Rob Gronkowski ran short routes, caught passes and jogged back to the line of scrimmage. He didn’t cut sharply, run hard at defensive backs or participate in 11-on-11 drills. The oft-injured tight end for the New England Patriots is practicing at training camp but not ready for full activity as he continues his recovery from knee surgery. He’s not even sure he’ll play in the season opener Sept. 7. “I’m preparing myself to my max ability right now for the first regular game,” Gronkowski said, dripping with sweat after Friday’s workout. “I really can’t say anything from here on out because it’s far away.” The signs of his surgical history are obvious — a heavy brace on his left arm, another brace on his right knee. “I’m used to the arm brace now. It’s been a year now wearing that so it’s second hand now having that thing on,” Gronkowski said. “The knee brace just started, but today’s the second day out there and I’m already getting comfortable with everything. “It’s great to be out there with my teammates again, being in the huddle, catching balls from
Photo by AP
Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski had a record-setting sophomore campaign in 2011, but injuries have derailed his production over the last two seasons. Tom Brady. It’s a dream come true again. It feels like it got taken away and now I feel like I got it back so it’s awesome.” Injuries have derailed a pro career that started with signifi-
cant production. Gronkowski missed his final college season at Arizona following back surgery but, as a roo-
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SATURDAY, JULY 26, 2014
HALL OF FAME Continued from Page 1B is being a professional. But to make it to the Hall of Fame? Come on, you’ve got to pinch yourself. I’m very fortunate it happened for me, especially first ballot.” Thomas won AL MVP awards in 1993 and 1994 and finished his 19-year career with a .301 batting average, 521 homers and 1,704 RBIs. He also won the 1997 AL batting title and helped show that in more recent times a power hitter could also be selective at the plate. Thomas played 16 years for the White Sox and established himself as the best hitter in franchise history. He’s the only player in major league history to log seven straight seasons with a .300 average, 20 homers, 100 RBIs and 100 walks. Heady territory for a guy who didn’t take baseball seriously until he was 12 and many thought would end up as a star tight end in the NFL because of the devastating blocks he delivered. “Hitting was something I took very serious. The way I swung the bat at times, you’d think I was 5-foot-9 and 160 pounds,” said Thomas, who decided to focus solely on baseball as a sophomore at Auburn. “But I cared about getting hits and scoring runs. A lot of people didn’t know that about my game. Yes, I hit a lot of home runs, drove in a lot of runs, but there were many days that I was just content getting singles and getting on base and letting the other guys drive me in.” Just as impressive: Thomas, Babe Ruth, Mel Ott, and Ted Williams, are the only players in ma-
Photo by Kathy Willens | AP
From left to right, Tom Glavine, Frank Thomas and Greg Maddux will become the newest members of Cooperstown’s most exclusive club this weekend. Maddux and Glavine were once teammates in the mid-1990s and early 2000s. jor league history to retire with a career batting average of at least .300, 500 home runs, 1,500 RBIs, 1,000 runs scored, and 1,500 walks. The effect of the Steroids Era was front and center at last year’s induction ceremony. The 2013 class consisted of Jacob Ruppert, umpire Hank O’Day and catcher “Deacon” White — all three had been dead for more than 70 years — and was picked by a select 16-member committee. It marked just the second time in 42 years that members of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America failed to elect anyone.
Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, and Roger Clemens — all linked to steroids — didn’t even come close in their first year of eligibility. That was not lost on Thomas. “I played in an era that people are going to be thinking about for a long time,” said Thomas, who was plagued by injuries in his later years. “I’m proud that I stuck to my guns and did things the right way, the proper way.” Induction day probably will seem like a reunion of sorts for Maddux, Glavine, and Cox, who were mainstays together on the Atlanta Braves for a decade. “To have the opportunity to go
in with two guys that were a teammate and a manager for a long time, guys that were such a big part of my career but also helped make me a better player, that’s a great opportunity,” Glavine said. “Every once in a while, I’ll have some moments where it’s hard to get my brain around what’s going on.” Maddux was elected by an overwhelming margin, receiving 97.2 percent of the votes from the BBWAA. He won 355 games, four straight Cy Young Awards and a record 18 Gold Gloves. Glavine, who was selected by nearly 92 percent of the voters, had 305
SIRIUS Continued from Page 1B “The allure is amazing.” The NFL’s allure seems limitless, and Channel 88 on SiriusXM — the companies merged in 2008 — has built its impressive resume on it. When Steve Cohen, the current senior vice president of sports programming, and Brandt first went on the air 10 years ago, Sirius had 500,000 subscribers. A year later, another 1 million had signed up. By 2008, SiriusXM had 18.5 million subscribers. Now, that number has reached 26 million. NFL Radio isn’t responsible for all of that, not by a long shot with Howard Stern and Oprah Winfrey among SiriusXM personalities. But it’s among satellite radio’s leaders in caller participation and, within the NFL itself, it’s become must listening. “SiriusXM NFL Radio attracts fans of all ages with their insight from former players and coaches and some of the most respected NFL insiders in the industry,” Patriots owner Kraft says. “I am a regular listener. I try to listen to financial reporting and timely global news when I can, but most often, I tune in to ... Channel 88. It gives me the pulse of what’s going on in my favorite sport seven days a week, 365 days a year.” Cohen actually consulted with Kraft before taking on the challenge of building the channel. Cohen’s vision for it was to have professional broadcasters team with former NFL players or executives. “Here was the hardest thing: hiring people,” Cohen says. “They couldn’t pronounce the name and hadn’t heard of this company.” Yet he attracted Hall of Fame running back John Riggins and future Hall of Famers Shannon Sharpe and Cris Carter to become hosts, although they no longer are on the channel. Brandt brought considerable cachet because of his wealth of inside knowledge and endless array of anecdotes. Former Jets personnel director Pat Kirwan also signed up immediately, and he’s become perhaps the station’s most popular voice because of his
skill at explaining everything from the intricacies of the zone blitz to the dynamics of the salary cap. “When I first started, I had no radio experience, had done some TV, but I knew enough about football to talk,” says Kirwan, who has partnered with former NFL players Tim Ryan and, now, Jim Miller. “And I had a lot of notions from TV that it was not addressing the needs of the fans who wanted to grow. The football guy felt there has been more than what these announcers are telling us, because TV appeals to a general audience.” NFL Radio wanted to appeal to everyone who follows the sport. It came up with some unique ways to do so. Not only has SiriusXM been broadcasting all regular-season and playoff games live throughout its deal with the league, which runs through 2015, but Channel 88 has brought listeners live to the combine, the draft, and to each of the 32 training camps during the summer. The camp trips are among the favorite endeavors for NFL Radio’s staff (55 and counting), although they got off to a rocky start. “The training camp tour started out small, three cities, and soon it became every team every summer,” says Adam Schein, Cohen’s first hire — at age 26. “You’d fly from Seattle to Denver to the Redskins’ camp in three days. Fly to Chicago and then drive to Bourbonnais, Illinois, or to Terre Haute, Indiana, and Nashville, and Georgetown, Kentucky. You go to Saints camp in Jackson, Mississippi, and the humidity smacks you right in the face. “We were not staying at the Ritz Carlton, either, but that was something that made it so great — it increased the bonding with the guys.” And with the audience. So much so that, at one point, Schein and Riggins had to cut a conversation short because the caller’s wife had gone into labor. A little while later, they found out the woman had twins — and named them Adam and John. Brandt has kept a log of each caller
wins and two Cy Young Awards. Both Maddux and Glavine relied on pinpoint control to get the job done, changing speed and location on their pitches to keep hitters guessing. Maddux won Cy Youngs from 1992-95 (Randy Johnson is the only other pitcher to win four straight), completing his impressive run with two remarkable years. During the strike-shortened 1994 season, Maddux went 16-6 with a career-best 1.56 ERA — the cumulative NL ERA was 4.21 — and the next year finished 19-2 with a 1.63 ERA. Glavine was on the mound when the Braves won Game 6 to clinch the 1995 World Series and give the city of Atlanta its lone major sports title. The lefty pitched one-hit ball over eight innings in a 1-0 victory over Cleveland. “I competed against those guys. They knew how to pitch,” said Thomas, picked on nearly 84 percent of ballots. “They were warriors.” Considering the size of this induction class — it equals those of 1971, 1955 and 1953 as the largest ever — and the imposing credentials of the inductees, officials are expecting a very large crowd as the Hall of Fame continues the celebration of its 75th anniversary. Heck, they’ll need extra seats just for Torre’s entourage. “I’m looking forward to a huge turnout,” said Thomas, who’s from Georgia. “I’m so happy and proud. To go in with the three most iconic managers of my time, it doesn’t get any better than that, to be a part of that group.”
TEXANS Continued from Page 1B
during his 10 years on the air, including where they are from. On a recent June evening, his four-hour program with co-host Alex Marvez featured nonstop full telephone lines. There were 37 callers from 19 states, 16 of them first-time callers. “That is not even our best. One night we had 24 first-time callers,” Brandt recalls. Many of those callers are truckers, and they’ve developed something of a SiriusXM NFL Radio cult, whether listening to 2002 NFL MVP Rich Gannon or Hall of Famer James Lofton. Not only do they phone in regularly as they drive the highways of America, but they now make a pilgrimage to Mobile, Alabama, in late January to the Senior Bowl. Kirwan throws a bash for them there, even giving out awards, and conducts impromptu class sessions on football, recruiting assistant coaches on hand for the game to help out. Cohen offers a reminder that there are far more days on the calendar without any pro football games. Yet, as his boss notes, the thirst for the NFL must be quenched. “Having every NFL game is a very significant part of what we offer,” says SiriusXM President Scott Greenstein, “but I can’t emphasize enough how important it is having SiriusXM NFL Radio on the air all day, every day, 12 months a year, feeding the appetite of NFL fans.” And feeding the hunger of folks in the league, too. Scott Pioli worked in the front offices of the Patriots and Chiefs and now is assistant general manager in Atlanta. In between NFL gigs, he had the chance to be an analyst on the station. He learned a lot being behind the microphone. “Usually when you are listening to the radio, you are alone, so the hosts become companions,” Pioli says. “Now I sat on the other side and got the chance to see how the people behind the microphone actually cultivate relationships with people out there in radio land, and it is cool.”
Photo by David J. Phillip | AP
Andre Johnson wouldn’t explain exactly why he decided to rejoin the team, but said he plans to close his career with the Texans. rio Williams have come and gone, but Johnson has remained. He’s the only player on the team to have endured both of the team’s 2-14 seasons after also playing on the 2005 squad that posted the franchiseworst mark. After spending his career here, he knew this was where he needed to be despite his reservations about enduring what some view as another rebuilding season. “This is my home now,” he said. “I’ve been here for so long. I was in Miami my whole life and now I’ve been here for going on 12 years. This is my home away from home. I think I’ve I built a great foundation here and built a great relationship with the fans.” Johnson has always been known as a hard worker and said he’ll do whatever it takes to learn coach Bill O’Brien’s new offense. He knows it will
be a challenge after missing so much time, but he’s looking forward to it. He’ll have a new quarterback this season after the Texans signed veteran free agent Ryan Fitzpatrick in the offseason after Matt Schaub was traded to Oakland. Fitzpatrick is eager to work with Johnson. “He’s a guy that’s wellrespected, not just here but around the league,” Fitzpatrick said. “Anytime you have somebody like that on your team it’s a great thing and he’ll be a great player like he always has (been) and a great leader for us this year.” Several other Texans met with reporters after Johnson did on Friday, but this year’s top overall draft pick outside linebacker Jadeveon Clowney was not among them. His status for the first day of camp is still unclear as he recovers from surgery to repair a sports hernia.
PATRIOTS Continued from Page 1B kie in 2010, he had 42 catches for 546 yards and 10 touchdowns. The next season he set NFL records for tight ends with 1,327 yards receiving, 17 touchdown receptions and 18 total touchdowns. He also caught 90 passes and was an outstanding blocker. In 2012, he started strong before breaking his left forearm in the 11th game while blocking for an extra point. Since then, he’s missed 17 of the Patriots next 26 games, including the playoffs. And he was on the weekly injury report or the injured reserve list for each of the past 33 games. “It’s been a lot, but I’m putting that all in my past now and just
grinding right now, going to get my knee 100 percent ready to go,” Gronkowski said. “I’m just not going to dwell on the past.” Even without setbacks, he’s not likely to be dominant right away, especially if he doesn’t play preseason games or takes limited contact in practices. Patriots cornerback Darrelle Revis played all 16 games for Tampa Bay last season after recovering from knee surgery, but “it was tough. I wasn’t where I needed to be,” he said. “They say it takes a year and a half or two” to return to pre-injury condition, Revis said. “I think I’m at a point now where I’m there. This offseason was a
full offseason for me where I can just focus on working out instead of doing the rehab (as) soon as you get the injury. So I’m fine, man. Like I said, I’m in the best shape I’ve been in my career.” He had more time to recover than Gronkowski but said “everybody goes through it differently.” Revis tore his left ACL on Sept. 23, 2012, and underwent surgery Oct. 16. Gronkowski tore the ACL and MCL in his right knee last Dec. 8 and had his operation on Jan. 9. “I’m just doing individual drills, routes out there and everything, getting my condition-
ing up, keeping the leg strengthening, getting my body in shape,” Gronkowski said. “All that good stuff.” He began last season on the sideline after four surgeries on his left forearm and a back operation on June 18. The Patriots kept him off the regular-season physically unable to perform list, which would have required him to miss the first six games. The team hoped he’d be back sooner, but Gronkowski and his advisers were cautious. He finally returned for the seventh game. “I’m putting that one in the past,” he said. “We’re all on the same page right now — the
team, organization, myself, the trainers, the doctors.” Were they on different pages last year? “No. Not really,” Gronkowski said. “I guess it seemed like that out there, but in the organization we were all on the same page and this year we’re all on the same page again, so it’s going well.” He expects it to keep getting better. “I definitely feel like I can go back out there right where I left and pick it right back up,” Gronkowski said. “It was boring this year. I was rehabbing every day. I was miserable. Hopefully, that never happens again.”
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HELOISE
Dear Heloise: I noticed that recently you published hints about LADDER SAFETY. They were good, but you’ve omitted one of the biggest dangers: ladder contact with overhead (or any) electric wires. A person could die in a heartbeat if contacting wires with a ladder. Most people never look at the top of their ladder while raising it. Please, everyone, check the area you are working in so you do not become a needless statistic. — Ken (retired fire department), via email Ken, you are absolutely correct, and thanks for the reminder to all of us! — Heloise P.S.: A BIG Heloise hug to all firefighters (regular and volunteer) across the country. You risk your lives daily for the rest of us.
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PET PAL Dear Readers: A reader sent a picture, via email, of her Siamese cat, Maya, curled up on a red blanket. Maya was a stray that appeared on the back patio. She now has a permanent home. To see Maya’s photo, go to my website, www.Heloise.com, and click on "Pets." — Heloise REMOVING MATS Dear Heloise: I am a veterinarian. Regarding removing hair mats from a pet (dog or cat), use an electric hair trimmer, human or veterinary, or a beard trimmer. One laceration or injury due to the use of manual cutting instruments (like scissors) that requires a trip to your veterinarian will likely pay for at least one electric trimmer. — Dr. Mark in Costa Mesa, Calif. "Woof, woof !" Chammy, our "new" rescue dog, a soft-coated Wheaten, agrees! She has been known to hide if she sees me with scissors! — Heloise
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